INDIANAPOLIS – The Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) has identified a record 584 student-athletes who have earned the GLVC Brother James Gaffney Distinguished Scholar Award, it was announced on Wednesday.

Named after Brother James Gaffney FSC, former President of Lewis University for over 28 years and two-term Chair of the GLVC Council of Presidents, the award is presented annually to student-athletes competing in GLVC-sponsored sports who achieve a 4.0 grade point average during the course of the academic year. The total number of honorees includes the 13 full-time GLVC members, as well as eligible associate league members.

Upper Iowa saw 33 student-athletes achieve this prestigious honor. Women's cross country/track & field, women's basketball, volleyball and men's soccer each had five student-athletes notch the 4.0 threshold.

The GLVC has seen a significant rise in perfect 4.0 GPAs since the inception of the award in 2016-17, although it began tracking the unblemished marks in 2013-14 as part of the Academic All-GLVC process. After seeing 114 students earn 4.0 GPAs in 2013-14 and 118 in 2014-15, the total spiked 52 percent to 179 in 2015-16, and then 54 percent to 275 in 2016-17 for the inaugural honor. The total jumped to a record 298 students across 15 full-time member institutions in 2017-18, and the league maintained its impressive position with 292 from 14 full-time schools in 2018-19, before nearly doubling the previous record with an 89 percent increase across 16 schools in 2019-20 at 555. The 2020-21 total of 530 was not far off the record set the previous year, despite there being only 15 full-time league members. The 2021-22 total of 581 set a new league record with a 9.62 percent increase from the previous year. While last year's total was 536 for 13 league members, this season's record honorees was an 8.96% increase with 14 full-time and four associate member schools.

The complete list of 2023-24 GLVC Brother James Gaffney Distinguished Scholar Award recipients can be found at the link attached with this story. Listed below are all of the Upper Iowa recipients.
 
Recipients
Chase Chappell, Baseball
Jason Jennerjohn, Baseball
Brady Stevens, Baseball
Ryan McDonough, Football
Jake Murphy, Football
Brady Stevens, Football
Christian Haffner, Men's Basketball
Kyle Hrncir, Men's Basketball
Daigo Adachi, Men's Soccer
Frider Blunck, Men's Soccer
Florian Deick, Men's Soccer
Luke Hanson, Men's Soccer
Archie Watts, Men's Soccer
Jordan Baumler, Men's Wrestling
Hannah Bridgewater, Softball
Abby Buckman, Softball
Allison Schaffer, Softball
Serah Shafer, Softball
Kaci Beesecker, Volleyball
McKenna Diermeier, Volleyball
Emily Kono, Volleyball
Martha Pace, Volleyball
Maria Winter, Volleyball
Alaina Brenning, Women's Basketball
Brooke Evenson, Women's Basketball
Mia Huberty, Women's Basketball
Abby Riederer, Women's Basketball
Helen Staley, Women's Basketball
Amanda Pisciotta, Women's Soccer, Women's Cross Country/Track and Field
Myah Brinker, Women's Cross Country/Track and Field
Genevieve Chenoweth, Women's Cross Country/Track and Field
Jillian Dodds, Women's Cross Country/Track and Field
Eryn Sabelka, Women's Cross Country/Track and Field